Thursday, January 17, 2008

Gayle King, Manhattan Bound

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: This morning we awoke to some interesting news in Braden Keil'sGimme Shelter column in the New York Post. The exceedingly well connected celebrity real estate gossip reports that his sources have whispered to him that long time Connecticut resident and Oprah Winfrey best buddy Gayle King purchased the penthouse at Place 57 located on East 57th Street deep in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.

According to the Place 57 website, the 3 bedroom 3.5 bathroom penthouse unit measures 2,538 square feet with a generous 768 square foot south and west facing terrace. Although we would never want to live on 57th Street, Your Mama would take a bullet for a terrace like that.

Your Mama rather likes the layout of this particular penthouse with it glass wrapped kitchen, dual fireplaces and a master suite sufficiently separate from the rest of the living space. We don't love that one must cross the dining room to get to the living room from the front door, but we imagine that's not an issue once you're physically in the space.

The biggest concern we have about this floor plan is the terlit and bidet set up in the master bathroom. Your Mama loves a bidet and we adore poopers that have been segmented off from the main area of the bathroom. However, Your Mama hopes that little cave has some serious ventilation, because Gayle King's shit stinks too. You know what we're saying?

Anyhoo, press material for the dee-luxe and not yet completed building indicates that the fitness facility will feature Baccarat crystal lighting, which is really quite lovely because let's be honest, who does not want to work out under a very expensive crystal chandelier? Baccarat crystal accoutrement will also be featured in the lobby, the lounge, and in an outdoor space called the "Baccarat Crystal Garden," a name which just sounds a little too New Age goes uptown for Your Mama's liking.

Now then, here's what Your Mama really wants to know:

1. We know that Miz King worked 18 years as a television news anchor. We know that she is dee-vorced from a successful attorney. We know she's on Miz Winfrey's payroll as an editor at large (or some such thing), and we know that she hosts a radio show. We know that she'll be paid to do something on her media maven best pal's new OWN television network. Mister Keil reports that he hears Miz King is also buying a large West End Avenue apartment for her adult children. But seriously kids, where does the ladee get all this money that she can afford a $7,400,000 penthouse in Manhattan and an apartment for her children? Yes, we know it's none of Your Mama's beeswax, but we're nosy that way. We can't help it.

2. Will she be selling her house in Connecticut?

3. Which bedroom will The Big O be sleeping when she come to New York for a visit?

I'd turn the bedroom off the main hall into a library, as it has that fireplace. Or make it the dining room. A bit tight, but then you could turn the existing dining area into a dance floor. Surely Gayle and the Big-O like to shake it down now and then...

I'm not much of a spa person, either, mama, but I'd shower down and jump in that tub for a soak. It must have killer views.

From the specs, I get the sense that there is enough space and height that you wouldn't feel as though you were skirting the dining room table en route to the living room. If so, you could pop out onto that terrace to regroup.

Being a pre-war kind of guy, I would miss the fact that good old-fashioned windows can add so much character, warmth and sense of dimension to reception rooms. That's me beef with these glass and steel towers.

Sorry chilrun, as much as I love shiny new buildings, and don't mind Midtown as a locale per se, there's some serious flaws in this layout.

First of all having the kitchen right next to the master bedroom may be alright for a quick midnight snack, but a no-no on the olfactory front. I also like the master bath, but don't like having to traipse through the dressing room (taking inventory?) to get to the crapper. And why no fireplace in the master, but one in that dinky bedroom across the foyer; the one that doesn't even have a private entrance to the terlit?

The foyer closet may "define" the space, but think of the flow you'd have it it had been placed where the laundry is instead . . .

But for two fireplaces, a killer southern and western facing terrace (sunny during the day, killer sunsets over foul New Jersey) and a service elevator just steps from the kitchen, I won't bitch; too much, that is.

LGB...good grief man you comment a lot. No offense buddy, but you need more to do in your life than sit here and comment on every single other comment.

I respectfully disagree with you on the layout. Remove that front hall closet and guests have no privacy when entering or exiting the powder room. Nobody wants to see the door to a toilet room when sitting at the dining room table.

I see no service elevator steps to the kitchen. Am I missing something?

Stepping through the dressing room or dressing area is not troublesome. Is it? Maybe in grand old house one need not do this, but I don't mind that route. Besides, this is not a dressing room...it's a dressing hallway at best.

That bedroom with the fireplace will likely be used as a library so it's of no consequence to me that the bath does not connect. And it could easily be made to do so if desired.

Fireplaces in the master bedrooms are useless as far as I'm concerned. Who uses them? You can't go to sleep with a fire burning...that's just plain dangerous.

I'll grant you that it is less than glamorous to have to walk past the laundry closet to get to the master, but you can't have everything...even at 7.4 million, right?

Back off, buddy. I'm fairly new to this site, but some people, LGB in the top 5, provide some good insight into the properties discussed in this blog.

Furthermore, who are you, in the middle of a good old Thursday, to sling mud at how anyone spends their day?? The inane suggestion that LGB is "sitting there" waiting for the next posting to comment on is ridiculous. Is that where you are, simply sitting there? I'm sitting in mid-town traffic on my way to a board meeting from a lunch meeting. Read the paper, surf your favourite sites. This is what busy people do to relax and escape for a little while.

You've clearly never had a fireplace in your master bedroom. If you had, you'd realize that it's romantic, sexy and a beautiful addition to the room.

Remind me why we should care about Gayle? Other than the fact that she's Lumpy's girlfriend she brings absolutely nothing to anyone's table, in my opinion. Before anyone gets a case of the vapors, it's just my opinion so calm down all you crabs. And don't get me started on Lumpy. I have a thyroid problem too; it gets in the way of the 10,000 calories I stuff in my face every day, just like Lumpy.

Hi There - Perhaps LGB doesn't have to work for a living either, what's it to you why he comments and when? I personally love his comments...and learn from them.

Am I missing something on the blog? How can you guys see the floor plans even when you click on them? And how is Mama able to see paintings and things in pics that I can't even pick out? I just had my eyes checked so what gives? Is there a way to enlarge pics and plans after you click on them?

Sunny, yo. Dunno if it works the same on a PC (I'm Mac), but you can try clicking for the large image, dragging it onto your desktop, opening in preview and then zooming in. The only catch will be resolution...web images like these are usually lo-res. So things might get blurry on you, but maybe the trade-off is worth it?

As to the apartment...I like the International Style-ness of the rendering, and it looks like my fetish for high ceilings might be appeased. But the layout is kinda kooky. I'd shift everything around. Why not put the kitchen (and a service entrance) where the master bath/dressing area is, the dining room where the master bedroom is, living in place of the kitchen/dining and a master bedroom/bathroom where the living room is? It seems to me a more logical arrangement, which would also give primary terrace access to public spaces. We'll have to wait for Luke to offer his thoughts...

PCH, I like your layout plan; sure, it wouldn't give you any access to the terrace directly from the master bedroom (where ALL us New Yorkers have our Starbucks & croissants, doncha know), but it makes better sense of the overall floorplan.

Perhaps the Big O will finance poor lil' Gayle's remodel?

I'm on a Mac too; if you're lucky enough to have a perfectly legal copy of PhotoShop, you can use the "sharpen" filter to bump up the details.

Gayle was on a budget with this one, and if I were Gayle I'd be pissed to be so far from the park- c'mon Oprah, Third Avenue?

Thanks for the reference, pch. We have to assume that the unit orientation is towards the "view" but there are a lot of buildings between this apartment and the park. The paps may be able to get some shots of Oprah in that tub?

We have to hope that Oprah's people (where's Nate?) are totally reworking this plan. At a minimum, I would locate the kitchen where the third bedroom/ library is, place dining next to the new kitchen at the far end of the living room, put the library where the kitchen is and have the fireplace where the entry closet is, facing the living area.

Maybe the current kitchen will be opened up. The current island seems worthless except for a few stools but prevents a table from going into the space, which is prime frontage.

So many windows, which walls will be used for the television stars to place their tv monitors?

i liked the original floorplan with the master opposite the guest b/r but you boneheads enlightened me on the new plan, so where do i sign off on the change order?the upside is that aunt mary could make herself useful & toast some marshmallows while i've got her bent over the bed in the new configurated layout...ya baby!tamra from the oc will be getting the grand tour also...sandpiper take a number.

Little Buddy, Stop already. You've got me looking at that floorplan again. Definately, the kitchen needs a huge exhaust system to prevent those cedar planked salmon odors from infiltrating the master bedding. I needed to get that out.

Caveman, I don't care what they say. You must have some redeeming qualities. :)

O.k., I might be repeating someone else here but I say make a corridor from the front entrance (or a wall at the dining room) to the living room. That coming into the dining room thing just ain't right. I like the openness of the plan, you could even widen the corridor as you got toward the LR to take in the view. Also, why are people saying there is no BA w/BR #3? It looks to me as if there are separate entrances to separate baths there and the reason they are together is the plumbing? If I'm wrong, let me know. Anyway, I'm with everyone who says that kitchen is to close to the MBR...that is a very strange set up! After all that tho, I'm with the crowd...terrific blank space to play with.

Thanks Bentley and LGB for the tip, I haven't tried it yet b/c lo and behold! The plans were easy to read!

Ooh look, a floor plan. I just love to pore over floor plans. I have to agree with the majority vote of the chilruns here: the terrace does not fit at all well with the living accomodation. Why on earth does the only door from a public room open into the dead-end corner, for heavens sake? Flip that door swing AT ONCE! Then re-arrange the rooms so that the living room opens out onto the terrace, not the bedroom.

You all have interesting and good ideas for tweaking the layout, but I think what some of you might not be getting is the direction the building faces.

While the living room itself does not let out on to the terrace, it is by far the most dramatic room and hence best location for the living room...it looks towards central park...the point points at central park people and that point makes the living room appear to hover over the city...I dont' like midtown, but I bet this room will be spectacular view and light wise.

to put the master bedroom where the living room currently is would mean that the crazy view and insane fenestration can only be enjoyed by the owner, in the bedroom.

plus, given the size of the service core where the elevators etc. are located, there is no other area that is wide enough for a properly scaled living room.

agreed that the master next to the kitchen is not great. but i actually think the layout is fairly well resolved given the directional location. And, as sandpiper said, some prewar-ish sightlines are quite nice..

I grew up in CT watching Gayle on the news up there. In the mid 80s when Oprah syndicated her show, she gave Gayle $1 million just so she could be a millionaire too. I am sure that was just the start of Oprah's generosity.